Nuns ground out an important win in their first game of the National Three North season against highly-rated opponents New Brighton.

The home side - featuring five new or returning faces - looked fresh and, apart from giving away a needless penalty on three minutes, had the lion's share of the early pressure and broke through on nine minutes when Gary Marshall found a gap to score, Lee Cassell converting.

Two minutes later a poor clearance kick dropped into the arms of grateful New Brighton winger Ian Murray who went over in the corner to score, and Paul Brett punished Nuns with a penalty on 24 minutes.

Nuns lost centre Jason Minshull to a leg injury one minute later, but replacement Craig Dutton's first act was to set up and then score his side's second try to reclaim the lead.

Nuns wound up the pressure through their forwards, and they were rewarded on 36 minutes when prop Craig Court went over in the corner to stretch the lead to 17-8 at the interval.

Tongan scrum-half Sikuti Vunipola impressed with his work rate as Nuns battled to hold on to their advantage against the breeze while Ricky Hyslop, on his return to Liberty Way, Dutton and the Marshall brothers Gary and Steve caused problems for the New Brighton back division.

Lock Carl Turley exploited a huge hole in the Nuns defence to score between the posts on 50 minutes, leaving Paul Brett a simple conversion and with 11 minutes to go Brett nudged the visitors a point in front with a long range penalty.

But Nuns refused to let their heads drop and their pressure and perseverance was rewarded on 73 minutes with a Steve Marshall try and Cassell conversion that limped over the crossbar to seal the victory.